Ten years ago, San Diego entrepreneur Brian Jones bought a ramshackle house in Cleveland.

But don’t write this off as your standard fixer-upper yarn, as that rickety heap was used in the filming of the 1983 holiday classic “A Christmas Story.” You know, the one with little Ralphie wishing for a Red Ryder BB Gun, but forever warned he’ll “shoot his eye out.”

Jones took a brave shot himself at saving the house, which he has turned into one of Cleveland's biggest tourist attractions.

Coming in from the cold, the day’s first tour — about 20 people — squeeze into “A Christmas Story” House. They’re greeted by tour guide Jeff Woodard.

“Come on in, welcome to Ralphie and Randy’s,” he says with a smile.

The visitors play with a Red Ryder BB gun or pose with the infamous leg lamp by the window. There are also elf hats and other novelty head wear, though the “pink nightmare” bunny pajamas are across the street in the gift shop.

Woodard explains how this house was used during filming of “A Christmas Story” in 1983.

“Basic rule of thumb is, if you can see a shot through a window or through a doorway into outdoor ambient light, that shot was filmed in this house,” he says.

But after filming wrapped up, 3159 West 11th St. became just another address in hardscrabble Cleveland. Nature, via economic downturn, took its course.

Then in 2004, Jones – a fan of the movie who had also launched a thriving leg lamp enterprise the year before – learned that the home was listed on eBay for $99,000.

“Never mind that the houses in this area are $25,000 and $30,000 homes,” says Woodard. Jones "doesn’t know that, he doesn’t care. He calls the two brothers who own the house, and he says, 'Make you a deal. You take this off of eBay today, I will write you a check for $150,000.'”

The visitors gasp.

Flash forward to today. Jones, who lives in Florida now but drops in now and then on business, reflects on the time and money spent restoring the house to its cinematic grandeur, inside and outside.

“You’re looking at about one and a half million dollars invested over the past decade,” says Jones.

The house now sees visitors from all over the world.

“There was guy from South Africa," says Jones. "He was crawling under the sink, just like Randy: 'Daddy’s gonna kill Ralphie.'"

And last year, Jones launched the A Christmas Story House Foundation, which helps fix up other homes in the immediate neighborhood. Last year it raised $60,000.

Rich Weiss was a beneficiary. He applied for funding and got approved this past year. “A completely painted house exterior, and a completely replaced porch, that isn’t inexpensive,” Weiss says.

While the operators of “A Christmas Story” House and Museum wouldn’t disclose annual revenues, it’s safe to say, with most of its 50,000 annual visitors paying the $10 adult admission, its profits are cozier than a set of pink bunny pajamas.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Jeff Woodard. The text has been corrected.

Inside U.S. Steel's plant in Lorain, Ohio, steel tubes are cast, trimmed, and threaded. The freshly-cast tubes are a dazzling, neon orange -- like a light saber from "Star Wars" -- you can feel their heat from more than 20 feet away.

"Here at Lorain Tubular, we've made significant investments over the last three to four years, to about $200 million,” says plant manager John Wilkinson.

Wilkinson says that's largely in response to the oil and gas boom from the Marcellus shale development. But another big reason was China had backed off from dumping its steel into the market. That happened in 2009, after several trade cases were filed. Wilkinson says after that, the company was feeling pretty good about things.

But since then, he says, “we have now seen the Korean imports start to take the place of the Chinese, and actually exceed the levels of where they were during that timeframe."

In other words, it's now South Korea that's doing the dumping.

And the oil companies are all too willing to buy this cheap steel. Wilkinson says because of that, production at U.S. Steel's Lorain plant is just a third of what it could be. There's just not enough demand for its steel tubes.

"This facility here would usually run around the clock, 24-7,” he says. “A lot of these countries that are dumping into our market, I can't even make the product for what they're selling."

The Economic Policy Institute looked at this trend, and saw that steel imports shot up 26 percent in the first three months of 2014. Right now, there are nearly 34,000 steel jobs in Ohio. But if this dumping continues, there's concern that plants will close.

"China, South Korea, India, and others, have been investing in surplus steel capacity,” says Rob Scott, an economist with the EPI. “We now have over half a billion tons of surplus steel production capacity, much of that is generating steel that's being dumped on the United States. And as a result, steel producers have begun to lay off workers."

U.S. Steel blames dumping for its decision to idle plants in Texas and Pennsylvania.

"Once you lose a steel mill and it shutters, it's pretty hard to bring it back,” says Ned Hill, an economist at Cleveland State University.

Hill says not only are foreign companies selling cheap steel here in the U.S., there are claims that they're also making knockoff steel for global buyers.

"Every piece of tube that comes out of a U.S. steel plant, has a stamp that indicates the quality, and there have been charges that those stamps have been forged internationally. And if you have a weak piece of pipe, that can cause problems,” says Hill.

Meanwhile, U.S. Steel has filed suit against South Korea for circumventing fair trade laws, with the U.S. Department of Commerce expected to hand down a ruling by mid-July.

Two big Hollywood projects just wrapped up recently in Cleveland: Kevin Costner's football flick, "Draft Day", and the "Captain America" sequel.

Ohio's film tax credits have drawn movie crews back to where parts of the superhero hit "The Avengers" filmed earlier. But if the film crews and celebrity sightings are back, so is the debate as to whether Ohio's film tax credits truly deliver.

Two years ago, the "Avengers" movie crew spent more than $20 million in Cleveland. Izzy Schachner, who owns a local catering company, has come to rely on the bump his business gets from these movie productions.

“It can add up to maybe about 30 percent of our total revenues for the year,” says Schachner. “I see it only getting better, as long as the tax credit continues to renew."

Ohio's tax credit for films has been around a few years. It reimburses film makers 25 percent of what they spend in Ohio. That's been generous enough to lure movie shoots away from Michigan and New York.

Ivan Schwarz, who heads up the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, says since the state's film tax credit was put into effect, more than 40 productions have come to Northeast Ohio.

"What we're trying to do, is slowly and methodically grow this industry, create a scenario where anybody that has the right skill set can work in this industry 24-7, 365 days a year,” says Schwarz.

But the problem is, nearly every state government has been trying to rework their tax laws to bring a little Hollywood glamour into their front yard.

Zach Schiller with Policy Matters Ohio thinks, "These incentives are a loser." Schiller says there's a reason to be skeptical. That's because most states don't bring in enough revenue from the films to justify the tax breaks.

"Let's face it, having some big Hollywood stars in your town is a nice thing,” Schiller says, “But we certainly aren't going to have 40 states building film industries based on their tax credits."

In nearby Wisconsin, the tax credits have bombed after years of measly returns. So Wisconsin's latest state budget leaves its film tax incentives on the cutting room floor.

But Ohio's pushing on. The governor doubled down, taking Ohio's film tax credits from $10 million to $20 million a year.

At a Jewish service at the Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz funeral home in Cleveland Heights, friends and family share stories about the man they call “Joe.”

“And as you might’ve guessed, a week or two later, you know what happened,” smiles one relative. “One of the kids turned the table on Joe, and put a pie right in his face, and we had that on camera as well.”

I saw scenes of fondness and remembrance -- smiles and tears. But the thing is, I wasn’t really there. Some of the mourners weren’t either. We were watching an online video stream, some from Arizona, Vermont, and Rhode Island.

Cindy Saltzer is Joseph’s daughter. She’s glad the funeral was available online.

“My family... they did not want to have that,” confides Saltzer. “I think they thought it might have been intrusive, but they originally did not want to do it, and I did. I thought it was a good idea.”

In the Jewish religion, burials are done quickly. In Albert Joseph’s case, it was two days after his death. Normally this means costly, last-minute airfares or long, stressful drives. But in this case, Saltzer arranged a webcast with the funeral home, with an on-demand link for those who could only see it later.

“And we got wonderful responses, wonderful letters from people who saw it live,” Saltzer says. “Even one of my dad’s elderly friends... figured out how to do it, and watched it live.”

Funeral director Michael Kumin says he installed the projectors, screens, and computer equipment two months ago, at a cost of $22,000. The funeral home doesn’t charge extra for the service, which gives them a leg-up on competitors.

Kumin says out of the last 80 services, about a third included webcasts... like one where a brother Skype-d in from Florida.

“And bigger than life, we had the brother sitting on that screen... in front of his computer so we saw him,” recalls Kumin. “And he spoke to everyone here. He said the things he wanted to say about his brother that came from his heart, and when it was all over, the rabbi continued, we put the screen back up, and the service continued as if someone had just walked out of the family room to step up on the podium and speak.”

Interest in online funerals is growing. One company, National Webcast, says demand has shot up 250 percent from 2011. But Sara Marsden says some funeral homes are worried. She’s editor-in-chief for U.S. Funerals Online.

“We will see a lot more funeral homes close down, unfortunately,” says Marsden. “Because I think the more we can access online services, we’re not going to be traveling on the same basis to visit funeral homes.”

In short, less revenues for funeral homes from chapel space, services, and caskets.

But not everyone thinks the online trend means the end of traditional services. Daniel Berry runs a couple funeral homes in the Cleveland area.

“I don’t think it’s ever going to replace the value of the human touch, the presence of a friend or family there at the funeral home to comfort and share the grief with the family,” says Berry. “Which is why we have calling hours, why we have funeral services, why we memorialize the individuals.”

Still, for Cindy Saltzer, emailing the link of her father’s service to friends made her happy.

“It was a beautiful service,” she says. “My dad was an outstanding man, and I just wanted to share it with people who would’ve wanted to see it.”

Saltzer’s husband Michael, argues online services will benefit those tight on for cash, too sick or too old to travel, as well as relatives in the military.

“I really don’t see a downside, and since we have the technology, why not take advantage of it, and use it so other people can be a part of it and experience it?”

Jeremy Hobson: Well when the employment report comes out this morning, economists will be looking to see how many jobs were created in the manufacturing industry. Now when I think manufacturing jobs, I think hard-hatted steel workers. But a big part of the growth in the country's manufacturing base is actually in plastics.

From WCPN in Cleveland, Brian Bull reports.

Brian Bull: At Venture Plastics in Newton Falls, Ohio, sales V.P. Bryan Osborne points out plastic components being made for cars, including some curved, triangular panels.

Bryan Osborne: These parts go on the interior of the vehicle. They're down near the sides of your seat.

Half of a new car is plastic. That’s 400 pounds of material in a light car, 20 times more than the amount used 50 years ago.

Osborne: Manifolds, fuel rails, throttle bodies, your entire interior now is mainly plastic, spoilers that are on cars. In fact, all of your chrome parts on a vehicle are actually plastic parts that get chromed, they're not metal.

In 2009, roughly 8.5 million cars were made in the U.S. But with the recession's effects easing up, Osborne projects almost double that amount will be made next year and the increases aren’t just happening to plastic, and it’s not just happening in the automotive sector.

Ohio Aluminum Industries in Cleveland makes parts for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and the Airbus A380. Steve Swarthout is the company's vice president of sales.

Steve Swarthout: From last year, we were up 10 percent. And this year, we're going to be up another 30 percent. Basically, Boeing and Airbus can't build planes fast enough.

Aerospace has also boosted titanium. It’s as light as aluminum, and as strong as steel. The International Titanium Association says after the recession, there’s been a spike in orders for airframes, among other things.

Mitch Bowers: We're optimistic with the continuation of the aviation, medical, petro-chemical markets, that we'll continue to have slight increases.

At G & S Titanium in Wooster, Ohio, company president Mitch Bowers roams his plant in a golf cart. G & S makes a variety of products, ranging from springs and fasteners for the Airbus, to shrapnel used in Sidewinder missiles. Looking forward, Bower says there’s room to grow.

Bowers: When we bought the land out here, we projected to put in enough space to double the company. So we have adequate room, space to add more equipment for the future, if we need to.

Bowers says he’s also brought back four of the ten people his company laid off a few years ago.

Jeremy Hobson:Here in this country, it's been a very mild winter, and that's been good news for the economy. It's helping retail sales and employment in cities across the U.S.

From WCPN in Cleveland, Brian Bull reports.

Brian Bull: Dan Lenahan normally takes a two-week vacation to Florida every winter. But the builder and contractor has been too busy so far this year. He says calls have been steadily coming in for roofing, garages, additions, and other projects that normally would've had to wait until the spring thaw.

Dan Lenahan: A lot of times, your masons -- they don't even come out. But we haven't really had a deep freeze all winter. We were actually in the ground, we were working, and were able to use the excavator.

It's amazing what can be done when you're not contending with minus-30 wind chill and snowdrifts up to your waist. But while builders are happy with the balmy spell, others are feeling the chill of unsold goods.

Danielle DeBoe is co-owner of the clothing store Dredgers Union. She says she's stuck with dozens of coats, scarves, and hats.

Danielle DeBoe: You buy those items eight months in advance. So you're anticipating that as a Cleveland, Ohio-based store, you can count own a full-blown winter.

But DeBoe says there is a bright side: the warm weather has brought more foot traffic to her store.

Kai Ryssdal: This might be too grand a thing to say based on just one month's worth of data, but it's entirely possible the American automobile industry is back. February sales figures came out today. More cars were sold in this country last month than at any point since March 2008, practically an economic lifetime ago. With those sales, of course, come jobs -- in manufacturing and related industries. For the next week or so jobs are all we're likely to hear about from the GOP presidential candidates as we head into Super Tuesday. And that's part of what our election coverage is about, The Real Economy.

Manufacturing in the Midwest is seeing a rebound, but some of the biggest job growth in some of the key swing states -- like Ohio -- isn't coming from the Rust Belt staples of steel and cars.

From WCPN in Cleveland, Ohio, Brian Bull reports.

Brian Bull: Mark Morton is a chef with Nestle USA. The company's product development center is here in Solon, Ohio, and Morton's hard at work in a test kitchen.

Mark Morton: These are some "soy shallots", the starting point of the sauce. I'm going to carmelize them in just a little bit of oil in a hot pan here.

Morton's experimenting with entrees that may soon end up in your grocer's freezer.

Morton: Once these are brown, then I'll add the celery and the carrots, and I'll just continue to cook them until they soften.

Morton is one of more than 70,000 Ohioans working in the food processing industry.

Richard Linton chairs Ohio State University's Department of Food Science and Technology. He says with more than seventeen hundred, Ohio leads all states in the number of food processing businesses.

Richard Linton: It helps our economy. It helps place jobs here in the state.

Linton expects the sector to add at least another 15,000 jobs in the next decade. Jobs, of course, are a major issue this election year. John Green heads the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, at the University of Akron. He says Democrats and Republicans will fight to take credit for Ohio's growing manufacturing sector.

John GreenPresident Obama's arguments about stimulating the economy, about strategic investments in particular kinds of industries. And also the Republican arguments about lower taxes and decreasing the costs of government. All of those things potentially play with Ohio voters, because a lot of people in Ohio are concerned about the manufacturing sector.

It's hard to quantify just how state and federal policies have affected Ohio's fortunes. But one thing that's helped is its location smack-dab in the middle of the Farm Belt. Bob Cohen teaches agriculture at Kent State University.

Bob Cohen: We see from Lake Erie down to the Ohio River, very diverse resources that enables everything from wine grapes and fruits in the north, to tobacco in the south, and beans and wheat in the west, and a lot of vegetables in between.

Ohio is also close to major markets in the Midwest and East Coast. Cohen says the processed food industry does well in tough times as consumers go out less and dine more at home.

Cohen: As the saying goes, you always gotta eat.

Yet despite the food industry's resilience, there are casualties. J. Kolt is the executive vice-president of Chef-Ko, a meat distributor in Cleveland. He's taken more than a dozen businesses off his client list over the past few years.

J. Kolt: There was a manufacturer in Warren, that couldn't compete with Nestles in producing pocket sandwiches, a couple hot dog companies here in town… those businesses were either run out of business based on buying power and pricing by the big boys.

Proving that as important as the food industry is to Ohio, it's not without its own "food chain" where the lake trout still feast on the minnows.

Adriene Hill: Ohio is betting big on casinos. The state is opening up gambling later this year in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo. And Ohio's joining a long list of states who have turned to gambling as a a way to attract tourists and raise money.

From WCPN in Cleveland, Brian Bull reports.

Brian Bull: The Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland is one of four being built in Ohio. They're expected to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Last December, part of the Horseshoe's parking garage collapsed under wet concrete.

But Chris Warren has a lucky feeling about the casino. He's the city's chief of regional development.

Chris Warren: It's fair to say that on an annual basis that there will be millions of dollars of new property, income and parking taxes flowing to the city of Cleveland, and that's good.

Warren says up to 15 million people a year will visit the Horseshoe. He expects annual revenues up to $30 million.

Marcus Glover is the casino's general manager. He says local businesses and attractions will cash in, too.

Marcus Glover: We'll spend a lot of time positioning the property of Horseshoe Cleveland. It's, 'Come to Cleveland and go the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. Come to Cleveland and go to Playhouse Square. And oh, while you're here, we hope you pay us a visit.'

But critics say casinos can short-change communities. Professor John Kindt of the University of Illinois-Champaign researches casino development. He's concerned by the Horseshoe Casino's 2,000 slot machines. He says each one will take in at least $100,000 a year.

John Kindt: That's money that's not going to buy cars, refrigerators, computers, and even food and clothing.

Meanwhile, critics say that as more and more states build casinos, their purported benefits to tourism may no longer stay on the table, as locals -- not out-of-state visitors -- will become the primary players.

Jeremy Hobson: Ohio is the latest state to turn to its liquor industry for jobs. The state recently transferred control of its booze-buying arm to a state-funded, privately-run job creation agency called JobsOhio. And the deal couldn't have come at a better time for the agency. Liquor sales are up for imported spirits and homegrown libations.

Brian Bull of WCPN reports from Cleveland.

Brian Bull: Last year was one of the rainiest ever in northeast Ohio -- not the best weather if you raise grapes.

But Nick Ferrante of Ferrante Winery in Geneva, Ohio, is toasting 2011 anyway, because of strong sales.

Nick Ferrante: We just loaded 15 cases of wine into a gentleman's car, so I think we're going to finish strongly, by 5 to 6 percent.

Bull: Over last year?

Ferrante: Yes, I think so.

The Ohio Department of Commerce says there are now 164 licensed wine makers, about a third more than there was five years ago. The number of licensed beer makers has nearly doubled from 2007. Commerce head David Goodman says alcohol sales in Ohio are at record highs.

David Goodman: So far this year, we're at approximately $770 million in revenue, which is historic.

That growth jibes with national alcohol sales. Craft breweries in particular have seen beer sales improve over the last two years -- good news for companies like the Great Lakes Brewing Company, based in Cleveland. Its kegging line rolls barrel after barrel, almost nonstop. Co-owner Patrick Conway says Great Lakes saw record sales in 2011 -- up 30 percent over 2010. And he added 20 new positions.

Patrick Conway: And we are penciling in another healthy double-digit growth again for next year, I think around 20 to 25 percent.

Seems like most alcohol makers share these high hopes, including entrepreneurs like Tom Lix, who'll introduce his Cleveland Whiskey brand next summer. While many startups are dealing with post-recession jitters, Lix is confident.

Tom Lix: Five years from now, we'll be a $50 million company, employ about 35 to 40 people, and I think it'll be a great success for us.

In an economy where it seems every major industry has dried up, alcohol flows on.

Stacey Vanek Smith: It's been a pretty mild winter so far in much of the country and there hasn't been a lot of snow. Balmy temperatures have left the upper Midwest drier than normal, and that's been a mixed economic blessing for places like Ohio.

From WCPN in Cleveland Brian Bull has more.

Brian Bull: So far, road crews and plows have had it easy, compared to last winter's thick snowdrifts and blizzards.

Brent Kovacs of the Ohio Department of Transportation says so far, the state has used roughly 20,000 tons of salt on roads.

Brent Kovacs: Compared to this time last year, we used approximately 202,000 tons of salt. That is about a relevant savings of $11 million in salt alone, statewide.

That's dollars many local governments could use these days. But not everyone's giddy about the sparse winter.

Guy Nerren: You're making me cry.

Guy Nerren is a racing coach with the Hi-Rise Ski Club in Cleveland. A major race this weekend could be jeopardized by warming temperatures. Nerrens says he's also concerned about the resort where the event is supposed to be held.

Nerren: They probably make maybe a third of their revenue right before Christmas and right after New Year's, and that's certainly got to hurt them quite a bit.

After this week's snowfall, Cleveland has about 10 inches -- less than two-thirds the seasonal average.

Steve Chiotakis: The World Steel Association's annual conference kicks off today in Paris. Overall, production and prices have dropped because of a slowdown in global production. But the American steel industry is showing signs of a turnaround.

From station WCPN in Cleveland, Brian Bull reports.

Brian Bull: Ernie Sexton is the site manager at TMK IPSCO's steel plant near Youngstown, Ohio. He watches as stacks of steel pipe are loaded onto a giant lathe for finishing.

Ernie Sexton: Then we feed it into our equipment. That's when we do the metal removal and threading of the product.

These pipes are headed to the growing natural gas industry in the Marcellus Shale region in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York. The heavy-grade pipes will be used to drill wells as deep as five miles underground. Sexton says if it weren't for such operations, his plant wouldn't even be here.

Sexton: We're a relatively new facility; we just opened in March 2010. So this is all new to us.

Nancy Gravatt is with the American Iron and Steel Institute. While the U.S. steel industry is still behind where it was prior to the recession, she expects shipments of American steel to rise 7 percent this year over last. Natural gas operations account for most of the gain.

Nancy Gravatt: So we expect, and I think analysts predict for the next 10 years, to see continuing demand from the energy sector.

Another industry boosting U.S. steel is automotive. Around-the-clock-shifts have resumed at Republic Steel, a 125-year-old company in Canton, Ohio. Here in a dusty railyard, a crane dumps heaps of scrap metal into a towering clamshell bucket. It'll be melted down into ingots, and sold to car companies.

Mark Huemme is Republic's marketing director.

Mark Huemme: Well we've seen a rather dramatic uptick starting with early 2010. Most of our business is driven by light vehicle sales and by heavy vehicle sales.

Industry reps in the Northeast aren't worried yet about cheaper Chinese steel cutting in. The plants and mills here are practically next door to the natural gas and automotive sites they sell to. And that keeps costs down.